After two nights of severe clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians in Jerusalem, several deadly missiles stroke the besieged territory of Gaza last night.
Their target was destroying Hamas positions in Gaza Strip. Israeli army tanks were near the guarded fence dividing the Gaza Strip from Israel.
For two nights Israeli police were struggling with Palestinians over a ban on gatherings in large numbers and forbade any gatherings during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The missiles but heightened the tensions.
After the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on April 13, there have been several nightly protests, sparked by Palestinian outrage over police restricting entry to the promenade across the Old City walls and a ban on gatherings. Palestinians were repeatedly bothered and also threatened by Israelis chanting “death to Arabs” in recent nights.
Young Arabs have been bullied by ultra-Orthodox Jews, and Jewish extremists have taken to the streets to harass Arabs, according to a number of videos which were published online.
In the conflict between Palestinians and right-wing militants, in previous days, 20 soldiers were wounded, and as was claimed by Israeli police 44 people were detained on Friday. But these inhumane treatments.
Jordan firmly denounced “the racist attacks on Palestinians”. Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi announced in a tweet: “As the occupying power under international law, Israel is responsible for stopping these attacks & for the dangerous consequences of failing to do so.” He also called for “international action to protect them”, and warned “Jerusalem is a red line and touching it, is playing with fire”.
Israeli army claimed that the strikes were all “in response to rockets fired at Israel throughout the night.” It also said that 36 rockets were headed toward Israel, half of which exploded before reaching Israel.
Although Hamas didn’t claim the responsibility of the strikes, a small military group aligned with the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for some of the rockets.
“After a long series of protests and demonstrations, we have reached the conclusion that without weapons, we cannot liberate our land, protect our holy sites, bringing back our people to their land or maintain our dignity,” senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar said.
In his Friday sermon, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, Jerusalem’s grand mufti, condemned the “police and settlers’ attack on Palestinians in Jerusalem,” but urged worshippers to keep peaceful and not give the other side a reason to explode.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for “calm on all sides” on Saturday. But he also warned that “concerning the Gaza Strip, I gave instructions that we be prepared for all scenarios”. Netanyahu announced the comments after holding an emergency security conference with senior leaders, including army chief Aviv Kohavi, hours after Israeli warplanes bombed Gaza, sparking a second night of clashes between Palestinians and police in Jerusalem.
“First of all we want to ensure that law and order are respected… now we demand compliance with the law and I call for calm on all sides,” he said.
Defence Minister Benny Gantz has also announced that the army “was ready for the possibility of escalation”.
Since President Joe Biden took office in January, the US has taken a more balanced approach to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, urging “calm and unity.”
“The rhetoric of extremist protesters chanting hateful and violent slogans must be firmly rejected,” State Department spokesman Ned Price tweeted.
UN special coordinator for Middle East peace Tor Wennesland, asked both sides to “exercise maximum restraint and avoid further escalation”, adding “the provocative acts across Jerusalem must cease”.
